Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-12-15


CHAPTER X.
| Nat raised the unconscious girl In his arms,
and bore her gently toward the miserable cot,
upon which he laid her MS carefully as If she
| had been sleeping child. His eyes retsc
| conpassionately upon her features. which,
under the uncertain light of solitary candle,
resembled those Of statue cut in cold, white
marble, so colOrless were they. But for the
faint sound oi breathing, barely distinguish
able, she might easily have been mis- aiken for
a corpse. The careless man of the world
stood for some minutes gazing upon the help
less girl before him, wrapped In silent admir-
ton of her matchless beauty.
Poor child!' he at last exclaimed, tender
| ly. ''She has received heavy shock"
Then lie bethought himself, and turned
suddenly toward the spot where her assailant
had fallen beneath his well-dclvered blow;
but he was sstounded chagrned, at discover
| ing the man was gone.
"The wretch | must not permit him to
escape so easily. This poor child may be
able, when she RECEIVERS consciousness, to give
I some information which will lead to his
arrest. l will summon carriage, and have
her conveyed at once to her home"
| He quite overlooked the fact that he pos
sessed no know edge Of where her home was; ,
but, begrimed, coatlcss aud hatless, as he
was, he dashed from the room and into the
street The locality was a poor one, to which
carriages were almost unknown; but five
minutes busy walking brought him into a
busy thoroughlare, through which dashed
hither and thither vehicles OF every dcscrp-
| Ha ypao nnf in Hn1 I'm icn nd
coach. The driver, after some hesitancy in
consequence of our hero's extraordinary ap.
pearaucc, consented to engage with him, re-
ceving in advance more than double his
regular fee Nat sprang into the coach. and
was driven back to the house. Eagerly he
hasteued through the dark passage-way, aud
entered the room where he had left Ella ten
minutes before. The light still burned, but
the cot was u occuped-the room was empty.
He was dumfounded. Selling the candle, he
explored the passage ways aud vacant rooms
| above; but no trace Of the missing girl could
| he find. Then he dismissed the carriage, and,
putting on his hat and coat, went out into
the streets, and walked until the first rays Of
dawn began to appear.
|
I It was after midnight when policeman,
patroling lonely street, suddenly came upon
a well dressed female, wandering along In a
state of delirium. Believing her to be one Of
demi-monde, and intoxicated, he conducted
| her at once TO the station-ho There an
| examination proved that she was not under
| the influence of liquor, but very ill-that the
blood IN her veins was boiling with fever, and
| that her condition was critical. She was un-
able to give any account Of herself, and there
were no papers about her person by which her
identity could be established. She was, there
fore conveyed 10 one of the hospitals. The
next mornings Herald recorded the fact of an
unknown insane woman having been found
by the police wandering the streets at a late
hour the previous night-nothing further.
This unfortunate one was none other than
the heroine of our story
Weeks rolled by, and while poor Ella was
the suffering inmate of an hospital, Nat Gar
vim, on board the ship Sea Gull, was sailing
over the ocean toward Australia, the Eldorado
OF his dreams.
When Ella was admitted into the hospital,
the attending physician entertained but
slight hope Of her recovery, although, as he
Informed the nurse under whose charge she
was placed, she might linger along In a semi
conscious state for some time AT length
however a marked improvement In her con
dition became apparent. The nurse, kind
hearted soul, who had taken a strong interest
In her charge from the first, bestowed
upon her every attention, yet her recovery
was slow, and It was three months before she
was able to sit up.
1t was while she was convaescing that she
told her humane attendant part of her sac
history, Withholding, however, her Own name
and avoiding all alusion to Frederick Norton,
and his cruel persecution Of her. She had
reposed confidence in the girl Mollle, and had
been BETRAYED, and she felt. therefore, but
little inclination to trust stranger a second
time She simply related that her father
sudden death had left her destitute ant
alone, and explained how utterly incapable
she was of making her way in the world
The nurses heart was touched with pity FOL
this young, inexperienced and almost penni
less girl, and she at once decided to do thu
little to assist her that lay in her power sh
had friend who did quite an extensive busl
ness as u drcssmaker, and employed severa
girls during the busy season, and to her sh
wrote, soliciting employment for Ella. Tn
dressmaker, being IN want OF assistants, con
sented TO receive her into her establishment
and give her home and some little remunI
ton, until she succeeded In acquiring suffl
Gent knowledge Of the buslness to be q
more value to her; so, when Ella was dis
charged from the hospital she went to Mira